Will I Ever?
by marlise.est.amoureuse
Summary: A completely original plot, AH, OOC. Boarding school, crazy best friends, and a new boy who can charm socks off. I'm an aspiring author, and I'd love for you to give me a try and tell me how my writing is!
1. Chapter 1

_Hey, I'm maralice. I'm an aspiring author and this is an original. The names were Emma  
(Bella), Simon (Edward), Kelly/Kellers/Kell (Alice), Piri (Rose), but then I decided it was like an ultra-super combination of Twilight and the House of Night series, so I changed the names, and here it is! Hope you're intrigued enough to continue!! _

**Will I Ever?**

_**Prologue**_

Hey. I'm Bella. I'm seventeen—a junior. I don't have a very interesting story.

All my life I've attended Cockatoo Boarding School in New Jersey. All my life I've lived in an all-girls dorm, knowing I had parents and two brothers out there, and never knowing them. Every day I walk across a grassy lot to the school building, and I listen to the same old teachers who taught me the alphabet when I was five drone on about chemicals and their effect on one another and utilizing the French preposition _dont_. My existence has been a busy and, frankly, unnecessary jumble of balancing mundane assignments on imaginary numbers and radical transcendentalists, and a small, claustrophobic social life. I would feel a little less trapped in my sad state if I went to a school that allowed students to go off-campus more than three times a month.

But no. This is it. Nothing'll ever change.

So when a new boy suddenly transfers to this hell-hole of a school, and everything starts to change with rapid and relentless force, it's pretty…(and you can trust me on this)…unexpected.

_Please review and tell me YAY or NAY. Thanks!_


	2. Chapter ONE

**Chapter One**

"Bella! Wake up!"

I knew that voice so well. It was my best friend, Rose, and I knew she was yelling so we weren't late for Anthropology class once again.

But my body _really _didn't feel like leaving my cushy memory foam mattress.

"Bella! Get your ass out of bed or so help me—"

I felt smug with the knowledge that she wouldn't leave without me. She was too nice. If she left now, she knew I would skip the whole day of school, and she didn't want me to receive any more detentions.

Knowing it would be cruel to her to stay where I was, I shoved myself out of bed, rolling onto the floor with a _thump!_

"Finally!" Rose exclaimed through a sigh of relief, tugging me by the arms off the floor.

I shrugged out of her grip and hopped up. Brushing myself off, I hurried to change into some jeans, a black sweater and some black flats. I scuttled into the bathroom to brush through my hair and smear a little eye makeup on. Rose was tapping her foot when I ran out and grabbed by book bag.

"Alright, let's go," I huffed. Rose just rolled her eyes and marched around me and out our door.

We raced through the main room downstairs and out of our dorm. Shielding my sensitive green eyes from the bright morning, I sprinted with Rose across the grassy grounds of our school and into the school building. Two right turns and we were in our Anthropology classroom just as the bell rang.

Mrs. Peterson glared at us with her beady eyes and jerked her head at our seats, but didn't say anything.

I slid into my seat by Rose and lay my head down on my arms. As she diligently took notes beside me, I remained in my tired position until second period.

Rose left the room to go to Anatomy class, while I skipped off to Calculus. The reason I was always happy about second period was the hot man of a teacher, Mr. Woods. I could really do without Calculus, but Mr. Wo—

"Umph!" I staggered back, bouncing off the chest of the person I had run right into. I looked up, moving aside my dark hair so I could see the person.

It was some guy, looking at me with this curious expression on his face, not looking bothered or off balance at all.

"Sorry," I muttered, my gaze dropping quickly to his shoes. Worn and torn black converse.

"It's alright."

I looked up, startled. His voice was deep, rough, and every syllable in his little "it's alright" sounded so full of meaning. I looked closer at his appearance, intrigued. He had on dark blue jeans and a simple, black v-neck stretching over obvious muscle and broad shoulders and it made me want to drool. Brown hair with a gold tint, and twisted in a messy mop topped his over-6 foot frame. Dark chocolate, round eyes, a straight, perfect nose and brow, and defined, peach-colored lips had me wondering: _Why_ have I never met this stunningly goo-looking boy?

I jerked my hand out like a robot, and said, "Hello. I'm Bella."

He reached out and took my hand, grasping it in a warm, welcoming grip. "Edward. Where're you heading?"

"Uh, Calculus. Just behind you." I nodded by head forward, over his left shoulder.

He seemed to hesitate about saying something. After a moment he decided to walk past me, saying, "See you around, Bella."

I stood there, stuck, until the bell rang, and until Mrs. Peterson, walking past me to the staff building, said, "Go to class, Ms. Swan." I didn't move an inch until, a minute later, my gay friend Eric stuck his head out the Calculus room door, yelled back to the classroom, "I see her, Mr. Woods!" Then he turned back to me. "Come on, Bella, Mr. Woods looks extra _fine_ today." He winked.

I slid my right foot forward, then found strength to move in my left leg. Eric hurried out and held the door open as I walked sluggishly into the room.

Dashing Mr. Woods smiled at me. "Thanks for joining us, Ms. Swan."

I scurried to my seat, just as Eric was sliding in the chair beside me. He giggled under his breath at my still-dazed expression, writing something on his calculus notes and tearing the paper out. He slid it to me.

**Did Rose put something in your drink this morning?**

I smiled and scribbled a response.

**No.** **Didn't have time for breakfast. If I look spacey, I blame Edward.**

I passed the note back under the table. A second later it was back under my nose.

**Oh? Edward?! Cute name. Mind explaining??**

I bit my lip as I wrote my short explanation of Edward.

**I ran into him this morning. Never seen him before. I'm thinking he's the HOTTEST thing I've EVER seen. **

Picturing Edward in all his glory, I held the note out in Eric's direction.

He turned to me, and his brown eyes were wide. Our note was still in his hands. He licked his lips suggestively. I nodded, grinning.

Mr. Woods stopped speaking all this confusing polynomial crap and cleared his throat, looking at Eric and me. We smiled innocently at him, and he shook his head, chuckling.

"Pay attention," he ordered in that damn sexy voice of his. His broad shoulders turned back to the white board, and he continued his lecture.

Gosh, Mr. Woods made me want to swoon off my chair, like a British teenager at a party, trying to gain attention. And that's when I realized—I wanted Edward as my boyfriend. I wasn't crazy about high school flings, but I really wanted to get to know Edward and see if it could go anywhere. Love at first sight? Uh, no, I don't believe that exists. Just major attraction, really.

I stared at Mr. Woods with my chin on my fist until the class ended. Gawd, he was so _sexy_.

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_Do tell!! YUM or YUCK?_


	3. Chapter TWO

**Chapter Two**

Lunch time. A very enjoyable recess from boring school, if you ask me.

I skipped the salad bar and went up to the healthy private school warm-food bar. I chose a simple burrito with sour cream and guacamole on the side, and headed to my table with my tray of food. On the way I passed the table where Eric sat gossiping with his "girl," Lauren, and gave them a little smile and wave. My table was one of the smaller circular ones at the back corner of the cafeteria, and I shared it with Rose and Alice, and the fourth seat was usually filled with someone who couldn't find anywhere to sit. Most days Mike or Tyler or Jessica occupied that seat. Rose and Alice were already there, and I plopped into my seat, announcing my arrival with a bang as I put my tray down heavily on the table top.

"How's Mr. Woods, Bella?" Alice piped up with her chirpy voice.

"Stunningly attractive, as always," I said, smiling tiredly at her.

Rose frowned. "You need to start going to bed earlier," she told me. "You can copy my anthropology notes again, but you really need to step it up. It's only a couple months into the year. You can still pull your grades up for semester if you try."

I sighed. Typical Rose. She'd been my roommate for my whole life, and she played the part of fun-loving friend so well, but she'd basically become my mom, too. Or, at least what I imagined moms were like; neither of us knew. I loved Rose and hated her at the same time. "I do try," I muttered. "I don't have time."

"No, you draw your work out _until_ you don't have time. Get it done. Maybe you'd even have time for a boyfriend."

"I don't want a boyfriend, okay?" I lied. Visions of me and the unknown Edward flitted to mind. "Can we not talk about this please?"

As if my thoughts had called him over, Edward cleared his throat. I turned and saw him standing behind the vacant seat. I wondered if he had heard me say that I didn't want a boyfriend.

"Can I sit here?" he asked, looking around at us. I noticed Alice was giving him a dazed smile. She looked woozy, like Edward intoxicated her by standing there. Rose's expression was flat, and I swear her eyes were the tiniest bit narrowed. I felt high, like I could float away, in the same state of trance-like giddiness as Alice. It was like he was casting a spell over us.

I shook it off first. "Sure you can, Edward," I said.

He pulled out the chair and sat, putting his tray in front of him. Apparently he liked pasta, because he had loaded his plate with a ridiculously huge mountain of curly-que noodles covered with white, creamy sauce. He had also picked a chocolate milk and Caesar salad. It was a _lot _of food.

Rose, who remained cautious and irritated towards Edward's adorable hotness, looked at his tray of food disapprovingly. "You're going to eat _all_ that?" she asked incredulously. Alice, still blatantly ogling him, looking asleep with her eyes open so that I was afraid she might start drooling, elbowed Rose.

Edward looked up at her and grinned. "Yup."

I smiled at the pure cuteness of his grin and turned to the girls. "Guys, this is Edward. We met this morning. Edward, this is Rose and Alice." I gestured to each girl as I said their names.

Alice smiled and nervously ran her hand through her short, spiky blonde hair and her odd grey-hazel eyes widened beautifully as she looked at him. "Hi," she chirped.

"Hi. Edward offered, smiling warmly at her.

Rose was staring at him with a steely look in her bright blue eyes. Edward noticed and began eating rapidly, like he was afraid of her cold glare.

There was an awkward silence. I reached up and rubbed the side of my neck. Some serious tension was in the air. I couldn't figure out why Rose didn't like him.

"So, Edward," I blurted into the quiet. "I've never seen you before. Did you just move here or something?"

"Yeah. I just moved from Minnesota. It's different here. I think I'm starting to like it, though." He smiled at me with a warm twinkle in his eyes.

Whew! Maybe he hadn't heard my boyfriend comment, then. Either that, or he didn't care, because he was definitely flirting with me.

I brushed my long, dark, wavy hair over my shoulder and rubbed my neck raw with nervousness, still looking at Edward. I was having trouble making sense of my emotions.

"Well, that's good," I said, smiling a little. "Why are you at this school? I mean, it's all private and haughty."

He smiled."I don't know. My parents wanted rid of me, I guess." He chuckled.

"Ooooh, Edward!" Alice squealed. "Are you a troublemaker?"

He grinned, handling Alice's enthusiasm better than most, and turned to her. "Yeah, sort of. I usually don't _mean _to. I'm just having fun and sometimes it gets…out of hand."

Alice giggled, Rose scowled, and I picked up my bookbag and slung it over my shoulder.

"I got to go, guys. Don't want to be late to biology. We're in the greenhouses today, and that's way across campus."

"May I accompany you?" Edward stood, holding his own bag. "I have the same class, I think."

"Sure." I smiled.

"Bell, can I walk you out there, too?" Alice asked, jumping up. She was wearing her backpack and moving her small, clumsy self around the table when Rose grabbed her wrist.

"No, Alice, then you'll be late to Human geography, and I won't have that on my conscience," she said sternly.

Alice shrugged out of her backpack, which fell to the floor, and plopped loudly into her chair, pouting. Rose released her and turned to me.

"See you later, Bella. Edward," She nodded at him, the cold look back in her eyes.

I gave Alice one last smile and waved to Rose, then turned and hurried out of the cafeteria. Edward followed me, walking a calm, fast walk. We didn't speak till we were slipping across the marble, just-mopped floors of the halls.

"I don't know why Rose doesn't like you," I said, frowning. "It's weird."

I could see Edward nod from the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I couldn't tell why. It's like she sees a whole different person in me than everyone else."

"Well, I'm sorry," I said, smiling apologetically over at him.

"Nah, don't worry about it."

He stepped ahead to open the door leading outside and he held it for me. I was surprised by his cute, gentlemanly gesture.

"Thanks," I said. He smiled in response. "So, uh, what's your favorite school subject?"

His pink lips pursed out, like he was kissing the air. "Hmm…" Gosh, he was so yummy! "Probably…foreign language. Especially French—the most beautiful, romantic language around. And it's fascinating, to know where our own words came from."

Oh, geez. He had to stop looking and acting like he did. And he needed to quit talking about romance languages like that. He was already turning me to mush, and I barely knew him yet!

I swallowed hard, shaking my thoughts away. "Do you like science? Botany? That's what we're doing for the next two weeks."

His head fell back and he groaned, giving me a lovely view of his strong neck and making that noise…that noise sent tingles all over my body, and before I knew it my teenage hormones were kicking in.

"I hate science!" he exclaimed to the sky. He looked at me, and I'm sure my head was a bright red balloon floating into space by now. "And botany…plants are pretty to look at, but little else, in my opinion."

I shook my head frantically, snapping my head to look at the wet grass we were tromping across. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd definitely been sexually turned on before, but never to such an extent as this. Edward was quickly drawing me in with his hotness and charming personality. I was pretty, I suppose, and had dated a couple boys and even had chances to sleep with them. But I didn't even like the other boys enough to go past kissing. None of my previous experience with hormones had prepared me for the raging, lusty emotions I felt for Edward. He was like the north magnet to my south, the east to my west, and I was helpless to my attraction.

He waved a long, slender hand in front of my face. "Bella?"

I popped my head out of my hormonal clouds and turned to him. "Yeah, sorry. Just zoned out there for a minute. Did you say something?"

He chuckled at me, then turned to look at the ground. The grass was becoming a small gravel path; we were about one hundred yards from the greenhouses.

"Yeah," he said. "I asked you if you liked botany. Plants and stuff."

I smiled lightly at his way of explaining botany, and nodded. "To a certain extent, yes. Flowers are nice to look at and smell, but trees and stuff…not my forté, really. I like English. Just like you said, it's interesting to see where it all came from, but it's amazing to see just what it's become."

He laughed at our similar but opposite interests and soon I was joining him. He started telling me things in French, and I started quoting Shakespeare.

Opening the glass door to the larger of the two greenhouses, he said, smiling, "entre vous."

I pointed into the building, proclaiming, "To botany, 'better three hours too soon than a minute too late.' From William Shakespeare, and his fabulous play, _The Merry Wives of Windsor_." I lowered my hand and skipped in, and kept skipping down the row of stools and dirty tables, stopping at the end of the building.

I picked up two small, potted, tropical-looking plants whose tags said "Anthurium," and set them on the table nearest me. Edward was next to me when I turned back to the materials. I grabbed a pair of black gardening gloves, and he followed suit. Tugging an old cabinet open on the side of the waist-height, wooden table I had chosen, I picked a forest green watering can from the cluttered garden supplies inside. Edward grabbed a navy blue one. I set everything on the table and perched on the wooden stool.

"Bella, I was wondering…" Edward began, a cute, blotchy, bright red blush fanning across his cheeks.

I bit my lip. He was adorable and handsome and hot and _ugh_!! It was hard to contain myself. "Yes?"

He ducked his head, looking at his pointed-toes for a second. Then his dark chocolate gaze raised to meet mine again. "Do you, uh, do you want to go somewhere with me tonight?"

I nearly fell off the stool. I mean, the boy moved fast! We'd just met and had spent hardly an hour in each other's company. But, I guess if we kissed, if it came to that…I don't think I'd complain. A date with Edward!

Kissing only, Bella. Kissing _only_.

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_AMAZING or DISGUSTING?  
_

_things are going to speed up soon, just sit tight._

_Please review!!  
_


	4. Chapter THREE

_Just so you guys know beforehand, Emmett, in my story, is a jocky nerd. He's popular and, although Piri is not poular, she is a big nerd, Emmett is Rose's best friend. Sorry to all of you Rose-lovers, because my Rose has some Victoria in her. lol. I love that name: VICTORIA. It has become the official mean-girl category for Twilight people. _

_Beautiful name, Victorias out there, I don't mean you. But there _is_ this Victoria at my school...._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

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**Chapter Three**

My dorm room was unlocked, which meant Rose was there. I hurried inside, threw my bag off my shoulder and onto my bed, and locked myself in our room's bathroom, ignoring Rose. She could wait.

I took a quick, cleansing shower, and it calmed me down from the excited state I'd been in with Edward. Hair dripping, I tied my fuzzy green robe around me and shaved my legs. Finally, I left the confines of the tiny bathroom.

Rose's bright red, curly, below-her-waist hair was hiding her calculating face as she curved her back and neck over her desk. Her desk was in front of the side window, opposite the bathroom, so her back was to me. She was scribbling something, her mechanical pencil making scratchy noises.

"Doesn't that hurt, like, your spine, or something?"

She jumped a foot in the air, stretching to a standing position and knocking her chair to the floor behind her. Her right hand was clutched over her heart. "Bella!"

I ducked to the left, in her line of sight, furrowing my brow. "Yeah. I thought you would've heard the shower running."

"N-no. No."

I frowned and backed away to sink into my bed. I lay down and closed my eyes. "Oh," I said sleepily. "Sorry."

Rose returned to normal old Rose and came to sit beside my motionless figure. I felt her average-sized body push the mattress down.

"Bella."

"Hmm?"

She clearly hesitated. After her second big breath, she said, "why'd you take a shower now? You don't usually shower until late at night, when you claim that there's nothing better to do."

I quirked an eyebrow and opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling. "I have a date tonight. Why do you c—"

"With Edward?"

I lifted my head off the pillow to look at her. "Yes, Rose, with Edward. Why do y—"

"Because!" She shifted her gaze to my bedspread and started playing with the two inches of sheet hanging out on the end. "I don't trust him," she admitted.

I waited for more, but none came. I sat up beside her, curling my feet under me. "Why? Rose, you don't even know him."

"Neither do you!"

"Yeah, but," I bit my lip and looked at her dubiously, "That's sort of the whole point of, like, dating."

Rose looked at me, then the ground, then at my right knee, avoiding my gaze again. "I know, I just…I feel like I _knew _him, as weird as that sounds, and he's…" She locked her serious azure eyes with my confused green taupe ones. "He's not a good guy."

I didn't speak, and my front teeth sucked in my bottom lip and began gnawing. I never wanted to believe anything like this, but I trusted Rose with my whole heart, always had, and wasn't about to deny her because she was telling me something I didn't like. Not that I had seen evidence of Edward being a bad guy today. But when you really looked at it from my eyes, you could only look at it through this one day. Was that enough to call proof? Not in my opinion. Was I turning my back on Rose? A little, I guess. Even so, I was sure she'd be okay with that if I explained to her my side of Edward.

I took a deep breath. "Rose." Her gaze snapped to my face, probably trying to read my mind, as she often did. Well, I was going to tell her what was on my mind, so she needn't have bothered. "I don't think you're right. We can't judge this guy after a day. Nothing screamed "bad guy material" when I was with him today. In fact, quite the opposite. He was kind and gentlemanly and funny and cute about all of it. I really like him." Rose's lips tightened into a line, but she didn't look away. "I think tonight I'll make up my mind about him. A single day isn't enough to call him a bad guy or a purely good guy, either, and I realize this. I just want to find out for myself." I paused, thinking about what she had said. "You said you _knew_ _him_. How would you have known him? Have you been to Minnesota without me knowing or something?" I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm guessing it's too weird for you." It was a statement and she sounded almost…defeated. Don't ask me why, and I'm not saying she's a lesbian, but she sounded like she just asked me out and I had rejected her or something.

"Yeah, it is. Does that bother you?"

Rose stood fluidly and marched to her bed beside her desk and sat, facing me from across the room. "No," she said, and it was almost mean, and obviously it was a lie. "He just seems like one of those guys who gets girls, has dirty sex with them, and leaves."

"Woah, Rose. That's…harsh, not to mention extremely unlike you. I don't understand how you see this person in him."

She got to her feet again, snatched her black leather bookbag from the floor by her bed, slung it over her shoulder, grabbed her paper and pencil off her desk and stuffed them in the pocket of her red fleece jacket, and turned to me. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Bella," she snapped. "I'm going to Emmett's to work. I may sleep over, too. Have fun tonight with Edward." She could barely stop an angry glare before she spun around and disappeared out the door.

I was alone in the ringing silence for all of two seconds before Alice pushed open the door. She took one look at me, alone, still and solemn, and scampered across the room to me. "Bell!"

Somehow, she managed to trip over my lime green rug when she was a foot away from me and fall, her clumsy limbs flailing and her too-big eyes closing shut, steeling herself for one of her regular battles with the floor. Her slim little arms flitted to push-up position, and she caught herself on her toes, but her elbows popped and buckled, so the floor belatedly kissed her nose.

I couldn't help it—I was giggling like mad.

Alice rolled onto her back on my rug, exhaling a giant gust of air from her little lungs and rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. About 5' feet tall, she dressed like a girl twisted by a tornado in the dark. In short, she wore crazy, multi-colored, un-matching clothes and five different earrings in her five ear piercings and a nose ring that was never the same for two months. She had the loveliest boy-short, naturally spiky, white-blond hair and she had a single, different spike of color in a clump of her bangs weekly. Today that color was forest green, and it made her eyes look like sparkling mountains. The color scheme of her hair and her unique eyes painted a picturesque scene in admirers' eyes every week. All of her shockingly loud apparel and personality made her a 10-foot tall giant who bellowed, "look at me," only not in a deep voice full of menace, but a high tweet of a voice that made the listener think of happy, clueless kittens.

That was Alice Brandon in a nutshell.

She wearily stood up and, her concern for me momentarily forgotten, threw her arms open and said, "I need a hug."

"Me too," I muttered, and hurled myself into her. With her chin tilted up as far as her neck would permit, she reached my shoulder. Towering over her with my slender 6 foot frame, I didn't wrap my arms around her waist when hugging Alice. No, with Alice, my forearms just rested on her shoulders.

After a minute she pulled away. She craned her neck back to look at me and said, "Sit, please. I want to tell you something."

I backed up till the backs of my knees hit my bed and bent my legs into a sitting position. Rose's outburst and departure were almost forgotten. Alice's mere presence did that to people.

"Yeah?" I said, watching her sit on my rug and look up at me.

"On my way in this dorm I passed Rose. She was in a big hurry somewhere and she told me you were being a bi— a, well, the b-word. Why would she say that?"

So much for not stressing about Rose.

I sighed, and decided to give her the simple truth. "Because she said Edward was a bad guy and I disagreed with her."

Alice shook her head, scowling. "But she doesn't even know him! None of us know him yet. However, he was incredibly hot and seemed like a nice guy, so _I _like him. She's awfully worked up, calling you names. It's ridiculous of her!"

"Yeah, well, it's how she feels. We've never gotten in a fight like this before, though, and I don't know why it's such a big issue anyway. He's just a guy. She says she doesn't trust him. And he said, like, one word to her! I don't know what her problem is. A nice, unbelievably hot guy asks me out and she—"

Alice's jaw had dropped. I forgot she didn't know that Edward had asked me out. I immediately felt awful—I mean, it was obvious at lunch that day that Alice had a thing, if purely physical, for Edward. I didn't want her to hate me now, too!

"Yeah," I whispered into the surprised silence. "Edward asked me out today."

Alice snapped out of her shock and asked, in a voice I could only call curious, "When are you going out?"

"Tonight."

She smiled the normal (for her), toothy smile. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Maybe it was all okay with her.

"Alice," I said tentatively. "Are you mad at me?"

She waved her head back and forth rapidly, her hair shifting with each turn. "Not at all," she announced cheerily, "although I wouldn't have minded taking a bite out of his man meat. Yum!" She took a big, violent bite out of the air, and I giggled. "But now that you have him, you just have to tell me what he tastes like!" I laughed aloud. Gosh, I loved this girl.

I looked at my alarm clock on my bedside table. 4:18 pm. Edward was coming to get me at my dorm at 6:30, and we were going to a nearby restaurant off-campus. I suddenly had a fun, although frightening, idea.

"Do you want to…" I faltered, chickening. "Alice, do you want to, maybe, uh, I don't know, perhaps…help me decide what to wear for tonight?" I squinted away, fearing her reaction.

After a second of waiting for Alice's attack and being met with still silence, I peeked back in her direction.

She remained cross-legged on the floor a few feet before me. Her hands were still folded in her lap. She looked unbelieving but, at the same time, ecstatic. She had a gigantic grin on her little face, and her eyes were bright with excitement. Alice loved to play dress-up, especially with me. She tells me constantly that I should be a super model.

"Yes!" she squealed, jumping up and bouncing on her toes a few times.

I laughed, loving her childish joy. "Alright, but first, do you want to do homework with me?"

She stopped bouncing immediately, looking at me in horror. I stood up and walked to her, bending down to look her in the eye and placing my hands on her shoulders. "Hun," I said, squeezing her shoulders. "You can't always get what you want."

I stared in her sand-colored eyes for a minute more, then let go of her and began pantomiming playing a guitar. "You can't, always _get_, what you _want_!" I was cracking myself up, hopping around and shaking my hair and singing. After a moment Alice dissolved into a fit of giggles, holding her stomach.

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_HOORAY or EFF THIS DAY??_

_Reviews are super-duper cute like Christofer Drew and Edward combined. OOOOH, a sexy emo punk handsome adorable everything sweet with a tad of salt Grrek god. Picture that, and it'll make you want to review. XD  
_


	5. Chapter FOUR

_Hope you like it!! :)_

_

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**Chapter Four**

Once we finally completed our last bit of history—Alice was in Advanced Human Geography and I was in the World History class for freshmen (I suck at history)—we flicked our pencils to the floor and headed over to my wardrobe. I sat on my bed as Alice whipped through my plain clothes.

"Here," she announced, pulling out a simple black dress that had once flowed down just below my knees. It was a dress I found at the Salvation Army for Rose's first orchestra concert six years ago. It was probably just below my butt now, as my eighth grade growth spurt made me implode up and not an inch out anywhere.

"Um, no. that'll just emphasize my anorexic, giraffe-like figure. It might fit you, though, if you want it."

Alice glared at me and spun back to the closet, sliding the hanger with the dress back onto the side of the pole reserved for fancy clothes. She rummaged some more through my dresses and skirts, and a second later she pulled out a moss-green pencil skirt made of faux snake skin. It was high-waisted, and had a dark green belt that was supposed to wrap just below my nonexistent bust. I gasped, remembering. I had forgotten I had that.

"Al, you just want me to wear that because you got it for me a year ago and I haven't worn it yet. My bad! I'm an awful friend. But I'm not wearing that on a date."

She glared again, but raised her eyebrows, too, and planted her little hands on her slim hips, her elbows violently pointy, like devilish wings on a tiny angel.

There was a moment of silence, and Alice didn't move. I wasn't sure about the skirt being date-material, but it didn't look like she was going to budge on this one.

"Fine!" I blurted, slapping my palms on the mattress. "Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

"Oh, hooray!" Alice spun around and grabbed a white tee and little black heels. She turned and flung the items at me. "Go get dressed!"

Grumbling, I gathered the clothes in my arms and shuffled to the bathroom. I inspected the shirt more. Alice had assumed (correctly) that I was wearing my black built-in bra camisole, because she had chosen a white tee that dipped in a low v-neck. With the camisole, it would be a lovely cleavage top. If I had any bust to fill it out.

I put the shirt on first, and when I zipped the skirt up over the soft cotton, the tight strap above my abdomen made the cleavage top a little useful. My flat chest stood out more. I think I just fell in love with a skirt! I slipped the heels on my bare feet, and the sheer black tied the camisole's black to the whole ensemble nicely. The outfit worked perfectly.

I stepped out of the bathroom and walked carefully to Alice. She was lying face down on the bed, humming tunelessly into the pillow and thumping the back of her hands on the bed, making an off-beat beat. She was never a musical child.

The thin heels sunk into the carpet, making each step precariously slow. When I was finally standing beside the bed looking down at her, I cleared my throat softly, and she flopped over ungracefully, doing a magnificent baby-seal spin. On her back now, she opened her eyes. It only took a second for her to appraise me, then—

"Oh, Bella! You look so gorgeous!"

I beamed. "Really? You think so?"

She nodded vigorously. "Definitely. It's form-fitting, but not so much that it's slutty. Just revealing enough, but very polite, I'd say. The shoes make you look dignified. And the skirt makes your boobs stand out!" She giggled, then said, so quietly I almost couldn't hear her, "It matches wonderfully."

"Al, it's not like I'm meeting his parents or anything I would need to look so matching and dignified and polite for. It's just a date."

She looked away. "Yeah, well, still, I just…I amaze myself sometimes."

I chuckled at her, bent down, and kissed her on the cheek. "You did well. I love it."

Smiling, she popped off the bed and moved briskly towards the bathroom, talking to me as she went. "Sit, Bell, I'll bring the hair and makeup stuff out to you."

I walked to my desk and sat, shifting the chair out so she could kneel before me and do my makeup.

She shuffled out of the bathroom, her hands holding five things. I knew at once they were "the five must-haves for girls with really nice skin," or so Alice called them. They included mascara, eye-liner and eye-shadow, lip gloss and a wide-toothed comb. Despite Alice's clumsiness, she was remarkably good at cosmetics. She didn't like very much makeup though, which is why she couldn't go into cosmetology. She prefers to enhance girls' natural beauty. She insists "all people of the female sex have natural beauty, sometimes it's just harder to find."

She put all the stuff on my desk except for the mascara. With the silver, tampon-look-alike in hand, she turned to me and opened it with a smile.

It had been decided: I looked great.

As we hurried out to the main room of the dorm, Alice was ranting. I didn't listen to all of it, but inbetween squeals of anticipation, I heard, "Edward better kiss you goodnight, right on those shimmering cotton candy lips, otherwise I'll have to pull a lock of his lovely hair right off his head," and I laughed loudly in response, gaining stares from all the girls in the room.

Alice and I slipped out into the dusk in front of the building. We were a couple of minutes early, and we sat on one of the cold stone benches on either side of the door. I hugged my black pea-coat closer, and flipped the collar up, which Alice loved.

"Bell," she said in a girly, teasing voice and flicking my collar, "I'm so surprised you don't have all the guys at this school wearing out your door bell." She paused. "Ha-ha! That unintentional pun is so true! Your door _Bell_, Bell. Get it?"

She was positively giddy. I swear, the girl was looking forward to this date more than I was! I mean, I was thrilled and excited and anxious and all, but she was just bursting with glee. I wondered if she was a druggie and had never told me—it would sure help explain her.

I was nodding absentmindedly to whatever Alice was going on about when Edward came into view.

He looked incredible in dark jeans and a button-up iguana- green long sleeve shirt, and nice, simple black shoes. I smiled. We matched perfectly.

Alice giggled at my side. "Hi there, Edward."

"Hey, Alice. Bella, you look stunning." He appraised me, his eyes sweeping up and down. He glanced at Alice. "You better take a picture, after all the trouble you went through to make sure we matched."

I turned to Alice. "What?! How did you—"

She interrupted me, smirking. "I knew about your date sixth period. I have Edward in that class with me and he told me. I texted him the colors you were wearing when you were changing in the bathroom. I made a lovely couple by playing with you like a paper doll. So sue me." She shrugged and turned back to Edward. "And no worries, I always have my iPhone with me."

She pushed me over to him, and I rolled my eyes at him. "It's true," I muttered. "She's addicted to that thing."

He grinned, reached out, and pulled me to him. He spun me around and put his arms lightly around me. My heart sped with our contact. I couldn't help but notice he had (carefully?) placed me on his left leg, so I couldn't feel his middle at all. Did this mean he was aroused and embarrassed about it? I must, admit, I was very excited- sexually –and I was just glad it wasn't so clear when girls felt that way. I bit back a giggle and turned to the camera.

Alice snapped a few pictures, experimenting with the lighting from the moon and the bright lamppost light by the benches. Afterward she kissed me on the check and ran back inside, stumbling on the threshold. Edward and I walked towards the front gates of the school side by side, talking casually about Alice and her crazy self. He stopped mid-sentence once and looked up.

"Full moon tonight," he commented, staring at it almost….angrily?

The bright orb shifted in and out of clouds, and its incredible white-yellow light glinted off of the metal gates before us. I looked at him and watched it reflect beautifully off his mahogany brown eyes.

* * *

_BINGO or NO-GO??_

_and NO, he is NOT a werewolf!! it's Edward, and that wouldn't be very original. =]  
_


	6. Chapter FIVE

_So, this is where the story gets a little strange. Remember, this was not meant to be a Twilight story at all. Same names, sort of the same personalities/characteristics as Twilight people, but that's pretty much it. And therefore, I feel the need to say that I do not own the names or general characters created in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight._

_Song: __**The White Stripes' "Little Room"**_

_Enjoy!_

**Chapter Five**

Edward's car, a black Toyota Camry (I don't know cars; he told me), was in a tight space in the parking lot outside the gates. We just fit between his and the next car on either side, and he had to hold the passenger door open for me with his finger so it didn't scratch the truck next to us. I squeezed through and ducked into the roomy, black leather seat. Everything was fancy and new; Alice would've approved.

Edward closed the door and moved around to his side. He slipped in and we peeled out of our spot and sped out of the lot. He was a very smooth driver, never going more than an inch out of place.

I rubbed my neck nervously and worked up the nerve to break the silence.

"If you don't mind my asking, where are we hea-headed this evening?" I stuttered.

He smiled and looked at me apologetically. I felt my brow furrow in confusion.

"Alice already chewed me out on not telling you before so you could plan an outfit around it, but I was planning on a picnic dinner?" It came out like a question, like he was making sure it sounded okay with me.

Honestly, I could hardly contain my happiness. I hardly knew him and I already wanted to kiss him, just for being so darn cute and romantic. "Sounds wonderful," I said, and felt my cheeks warm my pale pink that Alice called "an age-old, beautiful blush that assures me that you have blood in your veins and aren't a vampire who secretly causes my anemia." I chuckled just thinking of her saying it. "Which park are we going to?"

"I was actually thinking we'd go to Jenny Jump _Forest_, if that's alright with you."

A forest! Jenny Jump was nearby—we'd been there on a field trip in 7th grade—but it was private, and walled off with trees around the picnic area. I was skeptical, but I reminded myself of what I had told Rose—that I would give Edward a solid chance before I made up my mind about him. "Of course it's alright, Edward!" I laughed.

He blushed that adorable, blotchy red and chuckled with me.

"Do you have any music?" I asked, wanting this 15-minute car ride to be comfortable for both of us.

"Sure. What're you in the mood for?"

"Hmm….Oldies rock."

He opened a little compartment beneath the stereo and grabbed one out near the bottom. He had what looked like 20 CDs in there—in his car!

Holding the skinny jewel case out to me, he proffered, "White Stripes old enough for you?"

I grinned. I adored the White Stripes. "Perfectly fine." I grabbed the CD and put it in the stereo, so he could focus on the road in front of him. It was a clear night, but the evening light was quickly fading. The car stereo finish processing and I hit play.

_Well, you're in your little room,_

_And you're working on something good._

I tapped my fingers on my leg to the simple beat.

_But if it's really good,_

_You're gonna need a bigger room. _

A quick glance at Edward told me he was mouthing the words and softly hitting the back of the steering wheel in time with the beat. Watching his fingers helped me keep the rhythm, and so my eyes were glued to his long, slender hands.

_And when you're in your bigger room,_

_You might not know what to do._

Edward felt me staring and looked over. I met his eyes and he smiled. His fingers never stopped moving.

_You might have to think of how you got started,_

_Sitting in your little room._

_Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da,_

_La-la-la-la-la-la-la………_

The song quickly ended and we listened to a couple more before we arrived at the forest's edge. We got out of the car and Edward grabbed the food out of the back seat and then went to the fringe of tall trees where the forest started. I was right behind him as we tromped, chatting casually, through the brush. The trees got denser, grew closer together, and then spread again, until the sky was visible again through numerous thick and thin tree trunks.

"How do you like French class? Is the teacher up to your standard?" I asked him.

"It's alright, I guess. It's sixth period, so I'm pretty tired by then—Alice has that class with me, though, and her constant energy brightens the atmosphere. That said, it's kind of boring. I think I'm a little too advanced for what we're learning in there, as arrogant as that sounds. And Ms. Loraine is a nice person, but she's the reason the class isn't so good. To tell the truth, she's not very fluent."

I had deduced something about Edward: he was a talker. Well, I could be, too, but not like him. He could branch off into an essay's worth of words, spout them in answer to one question—and _I _was the person interested in English! I wasn't going to complain, though, because I loved the sound of his voice, and I loved that it filled silences I wouldn't have found a way to fill myself.

"Do you take a foreign language class?" he wondered.

I blushed. "I also take French…I'm still in French II, though, because I'm not very good. That's putting it too lightly, actually—I pretty much suck."

Edward grinned over at me, and we walked on in comfortable silence.

Soon Edward stopped, telling me we had arrived at our destination. It looked like just a bunch of trees and bushes to me, but when I looked closer (and craned my neck up higher), I could see a fairly large tree house. The roof was peaked and the angled roof-sides were longer than the little house itself. Moss was bunching in clumps everywhere and dangling off the sides of the roof. There was a big ladder leading up to an arched doorway facing us. I looked to Edward, waiting for him to say the word.

His eyes flitted to my face and then stared at the tree house again. I thought we had gotten over the whole nervous-first-date-thing, but I guess we hadn't. The sun was setting; far off to my left I could see the blue sky fading to look like orange sherbet. It was starting to get chilly and I pulled my coat off my arm and slid it on.

Finally, Edward turned to face me. He refused to meet my eyes, and instead stared at the ground. "Okay, so, Bella," he muttered.

Maybe he was just nervous about his choice of setting for a first date. Well, I thought it was cute and romantic…as long as we went in the tree house and ate very soon. I was getting hungry.

"Yes, Edward?"

He clamped both hands around the handle of the picnic basket, which he held in front of his body like a shield. "This," he gestured to the tree house on his right, "is Hirousaper. It's my friend Jasper's house—he named it." He smirked and rolled his eyes, himself again. I saw his eyes when they shifted up for that brief moment and, I suppose it could've just been me, but I swear they'd become a fantastic gold, a glinting and swirling color that looked like it was moving even when he was standing still. Then his eyes weren't visible anymore, and I listened curiously as he continued. "Jasper's not in there right now, but we'll…we'll see him soon." He sounded sad, or angry, and I wondered why he would sound that way when talking about his friend. "Very soon, unfortunately." And with that, he finally looked up at me.

I definitely hadn't imagined it. His eyes were blazing yellow-gold like the sun and, like the sun, it hurt my eyes to look at them for more than a second. I had a million questions swarming around the tip of my tongue about Heer-o-whatever and his friend, but I held them in for the time being. He wouldn't take his piercing eyes off my face, my I directed my own gaze down at his knees so I didn't hurt my eyes.

He hesitated before saying, in a rather sad voice, "so…now that you know…you don't have to come if you don't want to, Bella."

"Know?! You haven't told me anything, not really! I _wish_ I knew what you were talking about here!" My head jerked up when I raised my voice at him. I hadn't meant to; the words just blurted out, like they had hit boiling point in the back of my throat. My eyes were on his for those few seconds, and even that was enough to make them start watering. When I tried to blink the tears away I saw one big yellow spot, like someone had taken a picture with a flash bulb in a dark room.

I glanced at his face and saw that Edward looked downright depressed now. I felt awful.

"Yeah," he mumbled dejectedly. "If you really want to know what's going on, come with me."

I was frightened out of my wits, but I followed him up the mossy ladder and into the tree house. I was expecting the unexpected, and even that wasn't enough. It was just a plain, rather old, wooden tree house with a big rectangular window facing the forest opposite the door. After the last completely unpredictable ten minutes, I was taken aback by the normal little wooden box.

Edward walked to the far corner, right of the rear window, and hit the side wall softly. Simultaneously, a round, blue bubble appeared in the middle of the area, so big it was almost touching me, where I was leaning on the front wall by the door, and Edward, who was still scrunched in the back corner. It was see-through, and the forest through the rear window seen through the bubble was a dark, foreboding forest. Edward scooted around the side of the house, moving with his back against the wall at all times. He came around to stand by me, and reached out to touch the sheer face of the bubble. The contact of his hand made the bubble flex outward, and it rolled like ringlets in a pond around where he touched it. He curled his fingers around the odd substance, and the thing flexed outward till it was crushing his chest and just an inch from mine. He tugged, and a floor-length door appeared out of the round formation. It was a circular door, and when it appeared, the wall of bubble around Edward and I disappeared. He stepped through, and I hesitantly followed his lead. Once we were both in, the bubble sealed itself behind us.

It wasn't until now that I realized Edward had left the food on the grassy floor of Jenny Jump Forest.

Edward hit the wall, making it tremble and shrink in size till we had to duck our heads. He hit the wall two more times, and the second time, the bubble shrunk so far it formed to our bodies, but we were still connected by a thin strand of the electric blue, flexible material. I reached out with my bubble-hand and grabbed his bubble-gloved hand in fear.

And we were wisped away.

_HIT-THE-SPOPT or HOW-ABOUT-NOT?_

_So I recently put pictures up on my profile. There's a picture of the picnic tree house (which is actually on Elk River in Minnesota), and pictures of whoever all the characters resemble in real life._

_Please review before you hurry off to check out those pictures!_


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